Women Are Not Small Men! A New Way to Measure Your Heart Rate
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 10:31 AM | posted by Jenny Everett

Math has never been my strength. So determining my target heart rate is a chore: 200 minus my age (then take 60 to 85 percent of that to determine my target heart rate zone when exercising). This is the same formula that fancy fitness watches and workout machines at the gym use to guide you through your workout. AND, it’s the same formula docs use to determine your risk for heart disease.

“Women are not small men,” Martha Gulati, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and preventive medicine and a cardiologist at Northwestern Medicine said in a press release. “There is a gender difference in exercise capacity a woman can achieve. Different physiologic responses can occur.”

Here’s the new, improved math:

Based on the study, the female-friendly formula for max heart rate is 206 minus 88 percent of age. Oh, yay, it’s more complicated than the dude formula. Thankfully, Gulati and her colleagues are working on an iPhone app!
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This article really helps, because women’s heart rates are higher than men’s heart rates. Now this formula is not easy to figure out, so here is my easy to figure formula.

If you are between 20 and 29 years of age, take off 3-4 years from your age and subtract that from 206. If you are closer to 20 years old take off 3 years. If you are closer to 29 take off 4 years.

If you are between 30 and 39 years, take off 4-5 years and subtract from 206.

40 – 49 years, take off 5-6 years.
50-59 years, take off 6-7 years.
Continue with this same progression if you are older.